


The More Things Change

by shinyhappyfitsofrage



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Dumb idiots who are dumb, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Prank Wars, Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-16 00:38:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9266048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinyhappyfitsofrage/pseuds/shinyhappyfitsofrage
Summary: Hiding in Artemis's room, fearing for his life, was not really how Wally expected this prank war to unfold.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OvereducatedAndOverworked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OvereducatedAndOverworked/gifts).



> So so sorry this is so late! Also it is a little long because I'm a mess. Sorry!

“This is your own fault.”

It is not the first time those words had been spoken within the last five minutes. Or the second, or third, or ten thousandth. Wally casts a sullen glance over at Artemis, who is lying on her bed, pretending to read a book when in reality she is far more amused by his sheepish figure, leaning against her wall, arms crossed. She smiles at him, all teeth.

Wally picks at his thumb. “I mean. Yes, _maybe_. I guess, I can _sort of_ see, if we are looking at it from your standpoint, that this is sort of kind of… my fault.”

“Maybe?” A pillow flies through the air, and he ducks just in time. It hits the wall and slides down, falling next to his ankles. He has taken the brunt of many objects thrown at him by Artemis Crock in his day – pens, apples, sweatshirts, sneakers, bottles of shampoo, various weaponry, travel mugs – but pillow is a first (he and Dick were keeping a list). Most likely because he had never once stepped foot in her bunk before, citing “biohazards” and “the repugnant odor of conceit”. Looking back, he supposes expecting the walls to be deep dark bloody red, and the bed to be coffin for the queen of the damned herself was a little unrealistic. It mostly looked exactly like his bunk in Mount Justice. She had an ACDC poster on the wall. A baseball cap hanging off a lamp. Several books scattered on her desk. It was… _nice_.

Artemis is still staring at him, a half-laugh caught on her face. “This is entirely your fault, and there is no other way to look at it. _You_ were the one who said, “Hey, let’s have a prank war’, and _you_ were the one who got mad when Kaldur said no, and _you_ were the one who popped his water bed.”

“Oh, come on, Artemis.” He throws out his arms imploringly. “You have to admit that was funny. It just  - _woosh_.” He blew out his cheeks, demonstrating with his hands best he could what it had looked like when Kaldur had sat unknowingly on his water bed, only to have the whole thing collapse underneath him. Dick and Wally had laughed so hard that they had given their position in the vents away, which was how Kaldur had discovered it had been them, which is how he got to here, hiding in Artemis’s room from a shockingly irate Kaldur’ahm.

She shrugs, composing her face to a look of utter superiority. “Yeah, whatever. I hope it was worth it.”

Wally shakes his head. “He’s never gonna find me,” he said cockily. “Of all the places in Mount Justice – heck, all the places in the entire grand state of Rhode Island, your room is the _last_ place anyone would _ever_ look.”

“Okay, one, I cannot believe you just said heck in an actual sentence, and not in, like, a poorly researched play space aliens wrote about humans.”

Wally nods, concededly. “Fine. That was a good one. But also, you're a racist, we have alien friends.”

“Two,” she says, ignoring him, “No one has ever used the words _grand_ and _Rhode Island_ in the same sentence ever. Like, ever in their lives, ever. _Three_ , why is _my_ room the last place he would look?”

He raises an eyebrow. It’s not a jibe or a jab or a mocking taunt. She’s looking at him without a hint of irony, expression blank, hands folded over her book, waiting patiently for an answer.

Wally rubs his shoulder with one of his arms, unsure of what to say. relationship of mutual dislike and irritation one of a few constants in his life. Although she made him want to drive his head through an actual wall, in a way it was a comforting reminder that no matter what happened in the field, no matter how many times he heard M’gann scream in his ear, or how many times he was sure they were all dead, he could always look at Artemis and call her an asshat, and she would roll her eyes and tell him to screw himself.

Except… things had changed. Hadn’t they? Just yesterday, he had made her a smoothie when she asked him to with only the slightest amount of reluctance. They had watched _Shrek_ in the common room and he had only mocked her gently when she cried (but seriously, who cries during _Shrek_?). They sat next to each other on briefings, brushing shoulders, and sometimes when Black Canary made a particularly awful joke, they would look side-eyed at each other, hiding smirks.

Now, Wally stares at Artemis, suddenly unnerved by the prospect of change. “Well, I…” he trails off, at a loss for words.

It is at that moment that Artemis’s door is flung open with a terrific _bang_ , the doorknob crunching into the wall. Kaldur stands in the doorway, a bowl inexplicably cradled in his arm. “ _Wallace_ ,” he snarls. His victorious smile is nothing short of terrifying.

“Kal!” Wally had not known before this moment that his voice was capable of reaching that octave. “My buddy, my pal, my main guy! How are you doing? How did you find me?”

Kaldur nods his head ever so slightly at Artemis. She looks up blandly from her book. “Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you that I texted Kaldur where you are. Sorry.”

His mouth falls open at the treachery, and he starts walking towards her in outrage, but he was caught by Kaldur, who grabs him by the shirt and pushes him against the wall. Wally yelps.

“Any last words?” he whispers. Wally pushes with both hands at Kaldur’s arm, but it is like _rock_.

“Jesus _Christ_ , Kaldur, what reps are you doing in the gym?” He laughs nervously.

Kaldur shrugs. “Odd last words.” Wally braces himself.

And then Kaldur proceeds to dump the bowl of raw eggs onto Wally’s head.

Wally shuts his eyes the second he feels them in his hair. At first, nothing falls onto his face, but as the bowl is emptied, more slide down his forehead, over his eyes, onto his cheeks, dripping onto his shoulders. A few slip into his shirt, and Wally wriggles, trying to shake them out. After a while, Kaldur lets him go. Wally stands, his arms out to his side, lips sucked in to avoid tasting anything, eyes still squeezed shut.

“You have been pranked,” says Kaldur matter-of-factly. All signs of malice have completely disappeared. “See you at the mission briefing.” Wally hears the sound of foot steps, and then the door closing.

For a few moments it is quiet, and then suddenly, something soft touches his face. Wally jumps – he hadn’t heard Artemis get off her bed. “Towel,” she says. He takes it from her gratefully, first wiping his face vigorously. When he finally opens his eyes, she’s standing in front of him, arms crossed, biting a smile back.

“You look like an idiot,” she says fondly.

He laughs.


End file.
